Rails and Wheels - A Trip to India
By David Edinger, aka Factory Rider
Click on any photo to enlarge.

My wife had been working in Pakistan and wanted to go to India. Since the two are still technically at war she had to travel through another country to get there. She chose Sri Lanka, so I packed our riding gear and left Waco Texas for Colombo Sri Lanka.

I had reserved a small Royal Enfield on line, but it turned out to be a scam and never happened. We honestly didn’t have much time there anyway and apparently you can not rent motorcycles legally in Sri Lanka and the largest motorcycles were 400cc.

Instead we had a driver pick us up the next day and take us to the center of the country to the mountainous region known for it’s tea plantations and a famous train ride through the region. When we arrived in Kandi we took a tuk tuk into town to see the botanical gardens, a musical performance complete with drummers, dancers and firewalkers. From there it was a short walk to a large Buddhist temple on the edge of the town lake. You were required to remove your shoes and pay a small entry fee.

Taking the train through the mountains amongst the tea plantations is a great experience and people from all over the world come to experience it. You cannot buy your tickets on line and when you are there, they are sold out. Not surprisingly though they can be bought from a guy who knows a guy at 4 times the cost. It was still worth every Rupee. The train is an old school train and people tend to stand in the open door ways or sit and let their legs hang out while they see this amazing scenery.

The following day we were off to India. Flying into Mumbai was interesting to see from the plane. There were congestions of shacks making up the slums right next to modern buildings and schools, it was quite a contrast. We didn’t stay in Mumbai, to big and crowded for me. We changed flights and went instead to Goa, an old Portuguese fishing village on the coast surrounded by rain forests. Now the hunt was on to find a motorcycle to rent. I didn’t want to lug two sets of riding gear around the world for nothing. I searched on line, asked the concierge and finally was told by an employee of the hotel where we could find a motorcycle to rent. So we grabbed our gear, including a tank bag and saddlebags and jumped in a taxi.

We found the place; it was someone’s house with a bunch of junked out looking small motorcycles and scooters. I wanted a Royal Enfield since I own a 102-year-old 770 V twin that sits in my living room complete with a hand crank to start it. Most people know that Royal Enfield was originally made in England and eventually started making them in India to provide efficient and reliable transportation to the commonwealth. After the death of the British motorcycle industry in the 70’s the Enfield continues to this day to be built in India. The first one we were showed was in bad shape and when he saw our gear I over heard the proprietor tell the taxi drivers we were “professionals.” So he had me jump on the back and took me to another locations were he was having another bike washed. This would be the bike, still not in good shape, but I had a bike and it was a 350cc bullet.

We tied down the saddlebags, stuck the tank bag on and off we went exploring. Of course like England, they drive on the left side of the road but they also have cows, pedestrians, trucks and tuk tuks and dogs on the roads frequently. I felt good to finally be on a bike in another country, this made 46 countries on a bike.

The next day was going to be the big adventure; we were going to the northern part of the province where there is normally a large market along the coast. Riding in India was a challenge, not just because of the animals in the road but because everybody is trying to pass, always. So if you are on a motorcycle, a car coming the other direction will sometimes act as if you are not even there and force you to the center or the shoulder. I found it better to ride behind a car if possible and let them be the deterrent. Once we got to this famous outdoor market, there was nothing to see. September is still considered the monsoon season even though it never rained while we were there. Even the beaches were all closed due to the dangerous tides during this time of the year.

When we mounted up to head back, the bikes battery was dead. The day before when we picked up the bike I noticed the headlight was off and switched it on. The 350 Bullet is a low compression bike and I was on a small hill so I rolled it off and popped it into gear and off we went, with the headlight now off. I knew I was going to need gas and you need the key to open the gas cap. So I tried to find a gas station on a hill. As I feared, it wouldn’t turn over using the electric start. But it also had a kick-starter so onward we went. As we got closer to our hotel, the bike started running poorly as bikes sometimes do when the battery is low. As luck would have it, when the bike finally died, it was in the town that I had rented the bike from. I called the bikes owner who showed up with another bike in less than 5 minutes.

Fuel is not cheap so we transferred the fuel from one bike to the next, swapped the saddlebags over and on we went. The next day, we went south where there was less traffic and no major cities. We ended up in a small beach town after a fantastic ride on good twisty roads through the rain forest.

The beach was in a small cove and the tide was not as strong, so even though the red flags were out, as long as you didn’t go too far out the lifeguard allowed you to swim. So after swimming and eating at a beachside restaurant we headed back to the base hotel again, content with a good day of riding.

On our final day of riding, this time we went east over a river and into the mountains. We didn’t really have a destination, just east. We found a market, and my wife loves markets so we stopped. On the way back to town while going over a bridge I noticed some single-track dirt trails going along the river. I turned around and went back to explore. The trails were short but good fun for a dose of off road riding.

We enjoyed the experience of riding in India away from the big cities. I never saw any riders wave and I never saw any big bikes or riders on big ADV tourers from other countries which I am used to seeing, not in Sri Lanka or India